Yarn used in hand crafts, such as crocheting, is commonly packaged by the manufacturer for the user in the form of a skein, cone, or ball. It is generally recognized that yarn packaged in this fashion is difficult for the user to handle while crocheting or performing any hand craft using yarn.
Working with a skein, cone, or ball of yarn is awkward because the user must repeatedly interrupt production of the craft to manually pull a few inches of yarn from the package to provide a slack area or a temporary supply of the yarn to be used in forming new stitches in the project. This means the user must repeatedly interrupt the normal cycle of hand movements required to complete the project with a consequent loss of production and accompanying irritability.
Working with a skein, cone, or ball of yarn has the additional disadvantage of the package of yarn tending to roll about, getting the yarn tangled and soiled as increments of yarn are pulled from it.
The user has the option of handling the yarn as packaged by the manufacturer, or reshaping the manufacturer's package into a more manageable package of yarn.
There are several devices in the prior art intended to help the user repackage yarn for a handcraft into a package more convenient to the user. See, for example:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,281 issued Nov. 21, 1978 to Young for SKEINER; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,077 issued Jan. 6, 1987 to Wilson for YARN CADDY; PA1 British Patent No. 203,980 of Sept. 20, 1923 for IMPROVEMENTS IN BOBBIN OR SPOOL WINDING APPLIANCES; PA1 Italian Patent No. 483,730 of Aug. 11, 1953 for WINDING DEVICE FOR UNWINDING A SKEIN OF YARN; PA1 British Patent No. 773,049 of Apr. 17, 1957 for KNITTING WOOL WINDER; and PA1 French Patent No. 2,393,755 of Jan. 5, 1979 for WINDING DEVICE TO UNWIND SKEIN OF YARN.
Each of these patents discloses apparatus for converting manufacturers' packages of hand craft yarn into packages more manageable for the user. Most of them put the yarn on a bobbin or spool. British Patent No. 773,049 converts skeins of yarn into balls.
None of the known prior art winders incrementally feeds yarn to the user as needed to form stitches to continue the project. In each instance, the user is left with the laborious task of repeatedly interrupting work on the project to pull a few inches of yarn from the reshaped package before work can continue on the project.
There is nothing that relieves the user of the known prior art winders from incrementally pulling yarn from a package as the work progresses and thereby repeatedly interrupting the cycle of hand movements necessary to form stitches while replenishing the supply of slack yarn needed for the formation of new stitches.